The statue in Shravanabelagola is the biggest monolithic statue in India (meaning it is made from one stone only) and one of the 7 wonders of India (with 47% of voters choosing this as number 1). It was built in the 10th century AD.

The man pictured is Bahubali. At one point him and his brother fought for control and Bahubali won finally after a staring contest (the Jains don’t believe in violence!) but realizing he didn’t like having conflict with a brother, he gave the kingdom over and began to meditate standing in the same place- so long that life began to grow on him as you can see in the statue.

Because he gave everything back to his brother, he is the ideal man in Jainism and even non-Jains look up to him. The place is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists each year.

This Jain temple is extremely interesting as is the Jain way of life. Some wear only white, while others wore nothing at all. They are quite extreme. Did you know Buddhism was a compromise between Jainism and Hinduism?

The Jains sweep the floor before they step to avoid squashing even a bug, they only eat fruits which fall from a tree rather than plucking them, and would never eat meat as they won’t even eat a potato that’s been dug up and removed from it’s home the ground!

They believe in punishing themselves to reach enlightenment and will pluck out their own hairs. Woah.

The Views of Shravanabelagola

This statue is about 2 hours from Mysore and is one of the many places I visited with and recommend as great day trips from Mysore.

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Rachel Jones left a career in nursing and lived on the beaches of Goa, India for the five years. Now she lives in Mexico where she gives advice on the 40+ countries she’s visited in the last 10 years. She’s the author of two India travel e-books: Guide to India and Insider’s Guide to Goa. Her blog, Werkenntwen, like its name, is a contradiction combining off-beat adventurous places with glamorous and bespoke travel. Werkenntwen has been featured in ELLE, Marie Claire, Grazia, and Cosmopolitan magazines. She’s a writer for Bravo TV.

7 Comments

I love learning more about the history of religion in India. I’d honestly never heard of Jainism before. I’d always thought that it was a type of Buddhist that sweeps the floor in front of them so they don’t step on bugs. But now I know it’s the Jains! Your pictures are spectacular by the way :)